I have built up a modest, but decent collection of recent films I liked, which were released during my lifetime, but recently started "mining" for "classic" titles - ie pictures released prior to 1968... or so....

Anyways, I am providing a link to my collection, and would like some recommendations on classic titles no good collection should be without. I recently picked up; High Sierra, Man with no name trilogy, how the west was won, Auntie Mame, Rebel without a cause, and the maltese falcon.... some of these were pretty good.

dvdprofiler.com/mycollection.asp?alias=wmunn

This belongs in the DVD Talk forum.

Here's your collection linked.. http://www.dvdprofiler.com/mycollection.asp?alias=wmunn.

I recommend

North By Northwest and

Treasure of Sierra Madre

Both are excellent films. There are so many good classic films to choose from. Have fun!

I would think Citizen Kane needs to be on that list.

Vertigo (Great picture and extras) and The Big Sleep (Included two cuts of the film) would be nice additions. And what about the 2 disc Casablanca that came out earlier this year?

abintra is correct. Moving to DVD Talk Forum.

- David Stein

Can't go wrong with the Fox Studio Classics. Here are the ones that have been released so far, plus The Ox-Bow Incident, which just came out two weeks ago.

I'd also recommend:

Mildred Pierce
The Shop Around the Corner
Sorry, Wrong Number
Sunset Boulevard
Witness for the Prosecution

and I'll second Citizen Kane. Great movie, and an awesome 2-disc set.

Rob

Get some Brando!

The Wild One

One Eyed Jacks

If you like musicals, Seven Brides For Seven Brothers, in addition to being a classic musical, is a really good DVD release.

Citizen Kane
Giant
Ben-Hur
Gone With the wind

You can't go wrong with:

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
The Great Escape
It's a Wonderful Life
Some Like it Hot
Lawrence of Arabia
Touch of Evil
On the Waterfront

I wouldn't want to live without Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy and The Wolf Man.

Here are some titles between 1915-1940 that I would include...

Birth of a Nation
Les Vampires
W.C. Fields: 6 Short Films
Nosferatu, a Symphony of Horror
Häxan
Nanook of the North
Gold Rush
Sunrise
Metropolis
Passion of Joan of Arc
All Quiet on the Western Front
Under the Roofs of Paris
M
Dracula
À Nous La Liberté
Le Million
Frankenstein
Mummy
Most Dangerous Game
White Zombie
Trouble in Paradise
Invisible Man
Thin Man
It Happen One Night
Scarlet Empress
Bride of Frankenstein
39 Steps
My Man Godfrey
Modern Times
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
Lost Horizon
Grand Illusion
Pépé Le Moko
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Alexander Nevsky
Lady Vanishes
You Can't Take It with You
Pygmalion
Gone with the Wind
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
Wizard of Oz
Great Dictator
Rebecca
Pinocchio
Fantasia
Bank Dick
Thief of Bagdad

Cheers

DVD Smurf

Ack! You just brought up some awful memories... that wretched SONG!

To Have and Have Not
Dark Passage

Both with Bogie and Baby, Both released in the last two weeks

The Thin Man - hopefully the rest of these get released!!
Double Indemnity - a good noir with Fred MacMurray

I'll go against the majority and say to avoid Citizen Kane at all costs. Or, if you really want it, I'll pay you to take it from me.

Edited to change minority to majority. Oops.

Twelve O'Clock High (an absolute must !)
The Big Sleep (almost anything Boghart)
Yankee Doodle Dandy (almost anything Cagney... although most of the good stuff hasn't been released)
Oliver
Any Sherlock Holmes films starring Basil Rathbone
The Invisible Man
Casablanca (get this for sure !!)
Doctor Zhivago
The Bridge Over the River Kwai
The Day the Earth Stood Still
The Time Machine
War of the Worlds
Mr. Smith Goes To Washington
It's a Wonderful Life

and many many more... start off with these though

Let me know what you like from this list and I'll give you more info...

The Best Years of Our Lives.

If you haven't, see this movie, just phenomenal and fairly underrated overall where I stand. Just the briefest of background, it's a 1946 release and deals with Soliders readjusting to life returning from war. Very ahead of its time and it seems just as relevant today. Good stuff, check it out.

I was just going to suggest The Best Years of Our Lives, but I see the person above me beat me to it...

I just bought the DVD last night, so I had it in mind. Instead, I'll add a couple of titles from near the limit year:

The Producers (1968)
The Graduate (1967)

Seven Days in May

Everybody's going to have their own answers to this question. I would think about the types of movies you like today, and then buy a few classics in whatever genres you like. Enjoy Westerns? Try THE SEARCHERS. Comedies? SOME LIKE IT HOT. Swashbucklers? THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD. Etc., etc.

Good starting places for a collection of essential movies include: CITIZEN KANE, CASABLANCA, SEVEN SAMURAI, THE RULES OF THE GAME, ALL ABOUT EVE, THE SEARCHERS, REAR WINDOW, SINGIN IN THE RAIN, LA STRADA, LAWRENCE OF ARABIA and THE MALTESE FALCON.

The AFI list has some problems, but it's not bad for an absolute beginner, either.

I'd suggest checking out Ebert's list of "Great Films" too, as its a pretty good starting point.

Larence of Arabia
Citizen Kane
Cleopatra
Spartacus

All great "epics".

Check out the film library of James Stewart.